election solid republican. >> tonight, five candidates answering questions from across the state.

the five candidates, selected by the south carolina republican party for tonight's historic debate. russell fry, darline graham, mark lynch, ralph norman and mark sanford. also joining us tonight, six panelists. three selected by the state republican party. joey hudson with word radio, kelly nash and wendy damron. also joining us from our south carolina media stations, justin doherty, and i harris -- and i harris -- anna harris and eric weiss filled. good evening everyone, thank you for joining us in columbia, the capital city of south carolina. five candidates participating in tonight's debate, selected by the state republican party based on an aggregate of early polling data. thank you all for being here this evening. you've been provided the rules.

we will cover as much ground as we can. your responses will be timed. we will start with opening statements, according to the order that the polling is revealing from lowest to highest. mr. sanford, we start with you. 45 seconds. >> it is a treat to have this conversation tonight. for many of you, i have represented you in congress. for more, i represented you as governor. i can't believe i am a granddad, but i think that all of us would agree on a whole host of issues. whether it is a secure border or the importance of a boy he not competing with a girl on the soccer field or wandering into a restroom. there is one distinguishing factor i bring to the table, and that is the importance of the national debt, its implications for our lives, affordability and

the american dream. >> thank you very much. mr. lynch. >> i am a lifelong south carolinian. married 38 years with children and grandchildren. i am a successful businessman in greenville. we've had our 74th year. we've grown the business 35 times, debt free. i understand budgets and tackling the giants that we face every day. i understand we have to win in our business every day with every issue, serving customers and making sure we take care of them better than our competition, or we would be out of business. i know what being debt-free means. we can't print free money out of thin air, and we can't do that in government. it is time to tackle those issues causing our debt. >> i was born in surfside beach, in a house with no heat or air conditioning. my parents worked hard for every single dollar.

teaching us the values of hard work, faith and personal response ability. i know what it's like when every dollar matters because my family lifted. tonight, too many families across south carolina are wondering how they are going to fill up on gas, provide groceries or even afford a home. you are what your record says you are. i want you to listen closely to that record. i would appreciate your vote in the august 11 primary. >> thank you for your prayers. my family and i are truly appreciative. when president trump called, i answered because i am a hard worker and i am proud to have his endorsement. i am not a politician, but like lindsay, i have a servant heart. i grew up in the back of a liquor store where i learned the value of a dollar. for nearly 30 years i worked hard for the people of south

carolina, helping them find jobs and live independently. i managed an agency with 130 employees and a $90 million budget. i want to continue working hard for the people of south carolina, and i want to earn your vote. >> thank you very much. >> i'm ralph norman. i'm glad to be joined by everyone. i am a 40 year businessman. i've got a record that is the most conservative. my resume is my record. i look forward to serving in the united states senate for the next six years because i will take that to washington, d.c. i think now is the time because we are at a tipping point in this country in so many ways. i'm excited about the challenge and the prospects of what we bring, and it's going to be a new day. we can take that to the rest of the country. >> thank you so much for setting the stage.

we come back, we will get to questions. welcome back to tonight's gop debate. we want to thank the candidates upfront for giving voters direct access to questions. our first question comes from joey hudson. take a listen. >> donald trump remains a dominant figure in the republican party. should the south carolina u.s. senator's job be to support the president, or to support the people of south carolina, even if those interests do not align with the presidents? >> i think this is one of the big distinguish elements in this race. i have agreed with the president overwhelmingly. i voted with him 90% of the time. where i have disagreed, i disagree, and i think that is the american way. it's ok to disagree on things that are tied to spending, things tied to the constitutional framework, things

tied to local interests at home. that is what i did during our overlap. i think it's both. we need to watch out for the guy running point, but you have to watch out for the folks at home. that is the distinction between myself and several folks on this dais, where we have stood on that front. >> mr. fry, where do you stand? >> the short answer is yes. the president was elected to be our commander-in-chief. he is the coach. in congress, it is frustrating for our conservative voters who constantly see people grandstand and jump up and down and oppose him. the president has always had an open door policy. when you disagree with him, he has an open phone line. as we face radical left moving into congress and winning some of these nominations, people elected us to do a job, to secure the border, to cut taxes,

rain and bureaucracy and get the job done. not grandstand and not get in the way. >> mr. norman? >> if you look at what president trump did when he took office, the thoughts of kamala harris were radical. i like his agenda. the america first agenda to secure the border, cut the taxes, make sure our military is peace through strength. we set the right course. he likes people who can disagree with him. the fact that he has done such a great job, and i think he has. but you can disagree with them. he loves competing ideas. that's how he makes the final decision. >> mrs. graham, how would you reconcile differences between the president's agenda and what is best for south carolina? >> i completely support the president's agenda.

i am 100% behind him. i am honored to have his endorsement. i've been working already on the russian sanctions deal, i cosponsored the save america act. i signed on to state through recess to get it passed. if it were up to the democrats, they would just open our borders and have people interfering with our elections. president stands against the democrats. >> i support president trump. i voted for him six times. i will always support america first in south carolina. that is who i work for. iron sharpens iron. if we have a disagreement, i will go to president trump and tell him what i think, and we will come out with the best decision after prayer and discussion at the highest levels. that's what we need to do.

we always come together and with many counselors comes success. we will discuss what we need to, and i'm not afraid to bring up a question or something i don't think is right with anybody. with that comes the best decisions. >> thank you very much. our next question comes from justin in greenville. >> a recent research study found only 24% of americans consider the current economy excellent or good, despite president trump's promise to bring down prices. the cost of living is increasing, especially the cost of groceries. what can you do as a senator to finally lower prices and make everyday essentials more affordable? >> mr. fry. >> i think it is important that we all get back to the basics. i'm focused on a family first agenda. one of the tenants is certainly security. people feeling safe in their communities.

it is also the economy. i am not a wealthy man. but i know what the challenge is and how that feels when you are working hard for every dollar, just to stay afloat. i think it is important that we have more energy production in this country. energy is the biggest driver of a lot of the angst that people feel. that really is a key. we need to get washington bureaucrats out of the way so that our farmers can do the job they want to do, and provide food for our families. keep your taxes low. >> mr. norman, what would you do to improve affordability? >> president trump inherited that it -- an economy that was a disaster from the biden administration. look what he's done in the short time he's been in office. stopped the flow of illegal immigration. the big bill which gave the taxpayers more of their money back.

when the war is over, prices will come down, and i think he will make it more affordable just with his policies in general. it is taking a wild to recover from what joe biden did, intentionally. >> mrs. graham? what would you do? >> if anyone understands the struggles of south carolina, it is me. we have over 5 million people in south carolina, 50 percent of them live paycheck-to-paycheck. 60% don't have a rainy day fund, which means they can't make it three months. unfortunately, i'm in that 60 percentile. i've been in that 50 percentile for a long time. i trust president trump. i think a farm bill would be helpful, to help the farmers and drive down the cost of groceries. bringing jobs back to america. president trump has done a great job with that and i support that.

competition in health care, transparency in pricing, -- >> mr. lynch, what ideas do you have? >> as a successful debt-free businessman and having traveled the state for 15 months on this campaign, we've heard from south carolinians that are suffering. how do we get rid of the affordability problems? stop spending, that's what i had to do in my business. we've got to also bust up these monopolies that are price-fixing homes, like one of our clemson young republicans brought up. he said i would appreciate your stance on immigration and closing the border, but i am an engineering major and i'm going to be competing against foreign students that their country paid for their tuition to come to this country. they will take my job for half the pay, robbing me of my future. we've got to end h 1 -- >> mr. sanford, your ideas?

>> i would say many things, but if you look at a record when i was governor, we saw the first cut to the grocery cut -- grocery tax, the first cut to the property tax. i could go down a long list, and terms of trying to watch out for the taxpayer. if you look at the 10-year treasury yield right now, it is raising mortgage rates which makes life less affordable for the average american. i don't think we can have our cake and eat it too. you can't say i agree with the president on all matters, and not see the spinning columns in d.c. republicans have been bad on it and democrats have been bad on it. democrats have been worse, but we have a spending problem in d.c. with both parties, and that is the problem. >> our next question comes from kelly nash, right here in columbia. >> the national debt is now running at about $7.7 billion

per day. every taxpayer, that's $50 of extra debt per day. what would you do to lead us back to fiscal responsibly? -- responsibility? >> first of all, the interest on the debt, it exceeds our military spending. we can't sustain that. i would hate it if we continue the spending spree. democrats want to end our way of government. you could take more of the doge commission. they found hundreds of billions of dollars in what did congress do? only came up with $9 billion. we have to balance new spending with cuts like you do in businesses. >> mrs. graham? your ideas for fiscal responsibility? >> our debt is over $39

trillion. i think we are going to have to stop growing government and grow the economy instead. trump has already done a great job, cutting fraud, stopping -- in government. i was big in south carolina on not being a proponent of duplication of government. to me, that is wasting taxpayer dollars. cutting spending, growing the economy, bringing the jobs back to america. trump has done a great job on that. >> president trump did promise to cut the national debt but as everyone has pointed out, it has been escalating. what is the problem and what is the fix? >> mr. norman voted on a bill that spent $3.1 billion to support illegal aliens coming into this country. that's funding we don't have,

paying to help the problem escalate. illegal aliens coming in here, 50 million legal immigrants are here and 70% of them are on welfare that we are all paying for. we are paying for the demise of our debt, and no one is attacking the problem at the root level. america first is supporting america, not illegals in this country. >> mr. sanford, -- mr. moore norman did you want a rebuttal? >> mr. lynch, i've been voted the most conservative member of congress ever since i've been there. i voted against the open borders. to make that claim is silly. i guess silly season is here. i would never get the ratings that i've gotten by any means by any agency, so it is just bogus. >> we will go back to mr.

sanford. your ideas to address and rein in the national debt. >> it goes back to rolling up the sleeves and elbow grease. this is what i did as governor. we held a line on government spending, has no governor has before or since. with due respect to my colleague congressman fry, he was overwriting vetoes of nikki haley or governor mcmaster. what we can do is more on this front. it is easy to talk about government spending. -- ahead of that which we were constitutionally mandated to do. >> thank you very much. mr. fry, you have the floor. >> i think about my son james,

nine years old. what is the future he will inherit? every generation of americans have handed this country off a little bit better than they found it. this is going to be the first generation that says sorry guys, we messed up. we have to get the national debt right. we have to have a balanced budget. but beyond that, it is easy to talk about cutting. the gao estimates 500 billion dollars walks out the u.s. treasury every year, in waste, fraud and abuse. that sounds like a good place to start. doge is another good place to start. it's not enough to simply cut. we have to do that, but grow the economy for the middle class. >> thank you very much. next question comes from anna harris in charleston. >> south carolina's utility grid is facing unprecedented strain from rapid industrial growth. as senator, how are you going to

balance attracting these energy intensive businesses and ensuring reliable affordable power and water for everyday south carolinians? >> mrs. graham, the president made the statement that communities around the country need to get with the program. do you agree with him? what does that look like? >> i do agree with him. we can't let china get ahead in this technology competition. they can't control ai, they can't control technology. i think we need to build data centers here, and i think the tech companies should build the power plants to supply the data centers. that way, it does not drive up utility costs for the average american or the average south carolinian. the democrats don't want the data centers, because they don't like the noise. but we have to remain competitive against china.

that's just a fact. >> mr. lynch, what say you? >> data centers have become a big issue as i have traveled the state. it is a pain point for south carolinians, who are tired of waking up and seeing 100 acres of trees bulldozed and are told the data center is going to go right next to their neighborhood. it is horrible noise pollution. it takes millions of gallons to cool the centers, and it is causing electric utilities to increase. we already have a problem with inflation and affordability. we have to have the local communities have a say, in where they are put. we are bringing in flock cameras now, and that is a major problem. we are moving towards a surveillance state with flock cameras. i'm the only one talking about that. that is a horrible invasion of our american citizens' privacy. >> i think it is a twofold

answer. i think at the national level, you need one piece of legislation, that gets us in line, looking at the ways in which the united states is going to compete with china. we cannot fall second to china on this front. tied to that, you need local control. the desantis administration in florida got it right. they said we want to have a standard but when it comes to where a data center goes, that's a local decision. you cannot have a data center taking local water or driving up local electric prices, to the exclusion of a local voice in that process. federal policy that encourages local control. >> -- smart immunity's are begging for data centers. do you agree? >> i think two things can be true at the same time. one, we are in a race with china

on who is going to control ai, who is going to control these technological advances. the use of data centers is important from a national perspective. but people are concerned, and rightfully. data centers were not for every community. if they are right for one, they should have one. if they don't want one, they shouldn't have to be forced to swallow that. president trump's agenda on this is quite clear. data centers must pay their own way in power, in water. they can't be noisy. they need to make sure they are not onerous. they have to have the least footprint possible, and make sure they are not sucking up the resources our citizens need. >> mr. norman, your stance? >> data centers are going to have to explain the amount of water usage, each community is going to have to take ownership. you can't just let them run wild. as far as utility rates, the monopolies are controlling it.

the calls that i get from a single mom, from a business owner, utility rates are skyrocketing. nuclear energy is the future. it's got to be done in an educated way. in south carolina, we have a problem with public-private groups getting involved with our energy. we've got to make sure it is affordable, before any public dollars are spent, so we know where it is going. >> our next question comes from the palmetto promise institute. >> many of you have expressed support for the save act, but senate majority leader john thune says republicans do not have the votes to overcome the filibuster, or change senate rules to pass it. if elected, what is your realistic path to getting the legislation enacted? >> mr. lynch, reiterate, the question is what is your realistic path to getting the legislation enacted?

>> we've got to have the save act. it is a shame we have to have it. so we absolutely have to have an id and proof of citizenship. but that's all. we have to have a clean save act. it does not need to be tied to things they are sneaking in. we had the ndaa connected recently and that passed in the house and it came out from the government that we passed the save act. we can't merge our military intelligence with any other foreign country, and give them all of our secrets. that's losing american sovereignty in our country. that's america first. >> mr. samper, your position? >> we are living in crazy times. the fact that the mayor of new york wants to require an id to use one of the government

sanctioned grocery stores in new york, yet you don't need id to take a vote? this makes no sense to me. i support the save act and john thune doesn't have the votes, i think it goes back to having republican votes on core conservative issues. look at my voting record, not my words but my voting record. enacting policies that hopefully improve the lives of south carolinians. >> mr. fry, what has been the gridlock and how do you push through it? >> this is the problem with washington, d.c., the problem with the senate. they have a product that 80% of the american people agree with, that you should have an id to vote, that you should be a citizen to vote in american elections. it passed the house four times. the senate has done nothing. that is the problem. it is somehow partisan and

divisive when it crosses the potomac. the senate needs to be shaken up. the old way of doing things is not the way now. if that means changing the rules of the senate, changing the filibuster, then we have to do that. there are 200 bills in the senate, from the house, waiting to be picked up. they are not doing anything. >> mr. norman, we already have voter id. why do you believe the save act is important? >> for this not to pass the senate is an abomination. the founders would be unbelievably astonished that this is happening. i will do whatever it takes, to make the case for abolishing the filibuster. keep them up all night, wake them up, keep them up and make them talk. try any other means that we have to come up with. we passed it three or four times in the house.

we tried it through reconciliation where you only have to have 51 votes. this is the most important bill in this country. protecting our elections and making sure americans vote and only americans vote. >> mrs. graham, same question. >> of the first things i did was cosponsor the save america act. i'm willing to stay through recess to get it done. who gets a month off from work? i think we should stay up there and work and get it done. you have to have an id to check out a library book or by alcohol but you don't have to have an id to vote? that is absurd. in new jersey, they had 6600 people, noncitizens registered to vote. several hundred of them did vote in our election. i am all for getting rid of the filibuster to get this done, because eventually the democrats are going to get rid of it

anyway. >> our next question comes from eric in myrtle beach. >> republicans have already tried and failed to repeal obama care. democrats are pushing for medicare for all. health care is shaping up to be a big issue in november. what is your answer for fixing america's health care system? >> mr. sanford, what are your plans and policies for addressing the health-care crisis? >> when i was in congress i actually offered a conservative alternative to obamacare. the contingent rested upon this idea of personalized savings accounts. that was the linchpin, because if you look at this idea of changing the dynamic, there is unlimited demand to spend someone else's money. that's what we have with a third-party payer system. this would move us to a primary perry -- primary payer system.

a number of other things to reform and enable the customer to have more choices -- >> thank you very much. mr. fry, your ideas for making health care more affordable? >> it starts with rural health care. a rural health care fund was created and that is key, to have access. it should not take you three hours to get to the nearest hospital when there is an emergency. supporting rural communities is vital. beyond that, there is tremendous fraud as we have seen in health care. states are milking the federal treasury billions of dollars every year. if we are going to sustain medicare and medicaid, we need to make sure that they are solvent in doing the job as intended. democrats want to bankrupt that system. we have to eliminate the fraud and waste, get states onto

parity with the cost. that is how you save health care. >> thank you very much. mr. norman? >> most americans can agree obamacare is not working. remember when pelosi said you have to pass it before you read it? it's not working. we have to get back to health savings accounts, accountability for businesses. we have to give all americans a reason to pick what they will cover. the waste, fraud and abuse all over this country, that's just the tip of the iceberg. bottom line is we have to get the health care that fits everyday americans. the premiums are out of control. we've got to come up with a plan and get it through the house and senate. >> mrs. graham? your specific ideas for making health care more accessible and affordable? >> i want to say we have to

protect health care -- medicare for sure. health care costs are killing south carolinians. they could easily bankrupt a family. i have two daughters with serious health care issues. one has had brain surgery. she continues to be in and out of the emergency room. medical bills are just racking up, and it is crazy. we have to do something about it. transparency in pricing, i think is one way. if you have a medical procedure, you need to know up front the cost, so you can shop around. if you go buy a car, you know the price. this creates competition and drives down the cost. >> mr. lynch? >> obamacare has been a disaster. if we are going to pay for everyone's health care, it's going to go up for everybody. those of us that can afford to pay it, it is still out of

reach. it is out of reach for many families. there is a price-fixing issue in the industry. every time we renew our health care in our business, we look at several agencies. the price is the same for everybody. competition has been eliminated. the doctors are fighting for their fair share. there is a cash price and an price which is crazy. when you have a bill that is 10,000 pages, all kinds of pork got in. there is no way to read that. obama threatened to close the government down unless we signed the bill. >> thank you very much. our next question from joey hudson in the upstate. >> order security remains one of the top concerns among republican voters. beyond simply securing the border, what should congress do about the millions of people who have already entered the country illegally? >> mr. fry? >> it starts with funding. backing the blue and our communities.

we've done that with homeland security. if we don't have a border, we don't have a country. but if you look at this, it does not stop at border security. we have to close the loopholes that biden used to bring millions of people into this country. i think about the cost of rent for a family. that was driven up because of illegal immigrants in our community. i think about the hospital people are trying to have their first child at. that's being taken up because of illegal immigrants. use the tools, change the rules, get rid of these asylum and loopholes and deport the people that don't belong here. >> mr. norman, what would you support? ask what the president has done is right. you have a system that you get the illegals out of the country, and i remember visiting the border early on. food, medicine, clothes were stacked up.

the cost was borne by americans who had no say so. the biden administration did this to create a voting block that would keep them in power. get them out. make sure sanctuary cities are not funded. that way we could save some money and get common sense back into it. despite media disapproval, he is doing the right thing. >> mrs. graham? >> this one is easy. another reason president trump-endorsed me. i would be glad to stand with president trump. anyone that is here illegally needs to be walked right back out of our country immediately. i am all for supporting and funding ice. i support law enforcement. president trump has done a great job protecting our borders. these people come in, they take our jobs, they run up the cost of health care because they were receiving free health care. i think president trump has done

a fabulous job protecting our borders and i continue to stand with him. >> mr. lynch? >> we have career politicians on the stage. mr. fry, mr. norman, who voted on the allies act that brought 8000 illegal afghans into our country. that's a national security threat. it is time to bring somebody in that will do the right thing, stand up to this. our immigration policies are wrong. we need to have a moratorium and get caught up and get with ice and bring in local city police and sheriffs and allow them to arrest, detain and deport illegal aliens like ice does. we need to support that with our local police departments. >> a rebuttal from mr. fry and mr. norman question >> i don't know what he is talking about. i support lindsey graham in the first primary because he stood with president trump, and he was

a stalwart. he did a lot for the people of the state and quite frankly, i looked at this race with you and said wow, that's the opponent? that is someone who wants to legalize illicit drug -- wants to legalize illicit drugs in our community? i'm going to stick with my president. >> and mr. norman? >> i have no idea what you're talking about. to say i support illegal immigration is just not true. it is silly season with those trying to make issues out of nonexistent issues. immigration is a huge problem in this country. the president is fixing it, and i stick with him. i will vote every time to get this country back on track with legal immigration. >> we need to preserve time and make sure everyone gets to closing statements. mr. samper, your position on border security. >> absolutely agree and have

voted accordingly. a secure border is a key to sovereignty. same with sanctuary cities, same with adequate funding for law enforcement. i think one of the distinguishing elements of where i come from is the results. actually holding the line on spending. what you saw with this issue is real id. we enacted it when i was government and it had a material effect. because now you are not just trying to catch the bad guys, you were basically empowering local employers to say i'm sorry, we can't hire you because they are going to come looking for us. >> our final question from justin in the upstate. >> the war in iran continues. when it began, it was said it would last four to five weeks. now it just entered its sixth month. american troops continue to be

killed in the middle east and the cost of the war continues to increase. do you think it is time to end the war in iran and if so, how do you want to see it end? >> we do not have time for rebuttals, so focus on this question about ending the war in iran. mr. norman. >> iran has been at war with america for 44 years. they killed american troops during that time. the fact the president has taken out the number one sponsor of terror. compare that to what biden did, obama did. but the president is doing everything he can. there are military generals now that are saying they're going to have to put boots on the ground. i don't think the country once that. -- wants that. i think he will eventually use whatever powerful thing to take him out. >> mrs. graham, is it time to

end the war? >> i completely agree with president trump, i'm standing with israel. they are an extremely important ally of the united states. we cannot allow terrorists to build nuclear missiles, because they are going to want to kill americans. that is just the sad truth. if they build the nuclear missiles, their goal is to come here and kill us. the more we can fight them over there, the better for the united states. i am all for peace through strength. the democrats on the other hand want to defund everything, jeopardize our entire country, our national security, so we would be in a huge mess. >> mr. lynch, your position on the war. >> i support the commander-in-chief to defend our nation against all enemies foreign and domestic. having said that, we've been

over there, we've gone in. we had precise tactical attacks. we cannot allow iran to have a nuclear weapon. having done that, it is time to bring our men and women home and get back to what is important in america. that's attacking the prices of fuel and increasing affordability so that our young generation when they leave and go out, they can afford to buy a home and pay for their gas and groceries again. >> mr. samper, it is it time to end the war? >> it is a different decision. i applaud the president going after a nuclear iran. i applaud his effort to wipe out terrorists. it is my very strong belief -- i tried to go to every funeral of servicemen lost in the middle east, being brought home.

it is a humbling experience. only congress has the authority to declare war. this decision needs to be made by congress. there is a long history -- body bags don't go back to washington. >> mr. fry, is there any daylight between you and your opponents? >> i think a nuclear iran is unfathomable to conceive. what they would do with a nuclear weapon is destabilize the middle east, threaten our regional partners and threaten the west. president trump inherited this problem. this can has been kicked down the road for decades, and he took action. we need to finish the mission because where we are right now is that iran needs to be defanged. if you want to hate us, go ahead. do that without having the

capability to strike regional partners. no boots on the ground. my brother served in iraq and i lost friends in foreign wars. we can finish the mission. >> thank you very much. when we come back, we will have one final question as part of your closing statements to make your final pitch. welcome back to our closing segment of the gop debate. candidates, use your closing statements to address a critical issue in south carolina, that directly affects families, businesses and hospitals. south carolina is one of the few states that has not expanded medicaid. though our taxpaying obviously opponents say that a gross government but supporters say expanding medicaid would provide more coverage for working adults. my question is this. which carries more weight in your mind?

in your closing statement, provide an answer in terms of how your plan represents the best future for south carolina. >> it's the age-old question of government. if we have more, we can do more. the reality is that we are at a tipping point as a civilization where we have to say enough is enough. 193 years to accumulate $1 trillion. over the next 100 days, we will add another 100, another trillion dollars of debt. the numbers are astounding. the question before all of us is , how do we do something about it? i would vote for every candidate here based on what they said. the question is what they've done. if you look at our record on a host of issues tied to limiting government, maximizing freedom, the old-fashioned notion of liberty, i think you would see remarkable results in actually

holding a line on government spending which i think is the realm of washington. with due respect to republicans, they have not been great at that. president trump needs help on that front. i would say, look at our record and what we were able to do. we held aligned on government -- the line on government spender and it has real-world implications when you think about the notice -- notion of the american dream and how we might be able to achieve it. we have to turn around this spending train wreck. i would ask you to look at my record on that front. >> thank you very much. >> es. we have to take care of our own citizens in this country in the golden years of their life. we have to investigate and analyze what's going on currently with medicaid and find ways within that industry also. we can't continue to let things

go on and not know what's going on. we have to require inspections to be done instead of finding out fraud like we heard in the country through all these other organizations that the government has and protect social security for senior citizens. i want to talk about what mr. feiss said and rebut back to that. 42 years ago, i came to the end of myself. i was broken every way. spiritually, financially, emotionally. i came to the end of a drug edition issue. since then, i wet -- met my wife. we have counseled thousands of addicts out of lives of addiction into freedom in christ. there's no way, no way that i'm for legalizing marijuana and cocaine. that came from the lindsey graham camp. that's an attack of lies. i'm a serious candidate and they tried to push me down.

they spent $50 million doing that. mr. moran calls this foolish. in 2021, he voted for the allies act that allowed 8000 illegal afghan immigrants to come here. >> your time is expired. your position on this issue of medicaid expansion and your closing argument to voters? >> south carolina is doing the fiscally prudent thing, not to expand medicaid. at the end of the journey, it will cost the state farm are -- far more. the united states senate is no place for on-the-job training. it's no place for going up in voting no and thinking that you've done something meaningful. the only -- old ways of the senate are broken. we have to change the ways things are done. south carolina deserves a fighter. somebody who will stand alongside president trump. i'm the only one on the stage with a record of passing legislation in furtherance of

president trump's agenda. my vision is clear. we ought to keep men out of women's sports, increase energy production, protect the rights of the unborn, protect your second amendment rights, and put more money back in your pocket. you can elect a politician to go up to washington and push yes or no and collect a paycheck. or you can elect somebody who is battle tested and getting results for the people of the state. i didn't inherit a record. i earned it. a record is not a finish line. it's a starting point. my son james is nine years old. my wife says this will be the first generation that hands the country off worse than they found it. i don't think so. i think our opportunity is right now. it's about sending a fighter, somebody committed to president trump's agenda. >> do you see any value in terms of expanding medicaid? >> i caution against expanding

medicaid. that's going to increase taxes. what i want to say is that i'm different from most politicians. i'm not a politician. we all know why i'm here. i think it's part of god's plan. i know most of these guys have three or four years experience combined. again, i'm not a politician. i'm not a millionaire. i understand the average struggles of the american family. i don't believe in boys and girls sports. i don't believe that they belong in the locker rooms. i believe that's dangerous. i believe in protecting the second amendment. i'm a bargain shopper because i have to be. i will do anything it takes to help pass the save america act. i don't know if i can rebut.

mentioned lindsey graham multiple times. i don't know if he's just afraid that his little sister is going to beat him. >> the floor is yours. medicaid expansion and your closing statement. >> we have so much waste, fraud, abuse. look at where we are on social security. look. we've got a spiritual problem in this country for the heart and soul to save this country. these aren't our enemies that i'm standing with today. it's the radical democrats we have to beat. i am the only one that can take on the democrats in november. i have a solid 40 year business career. i have a conservative record that is second to none. i have the courage to stand up. i stood hand in hand with frontline dock first. i will go in the senate and i

will wake them up. i will stand up and i will speak up. because it can't keep going like it's going. milquetoast moderates will not make it to get this country back to what we need. i'm tired of moderates. i'm tired of those who smile and say they will do the same thing over and over again. look at my record. you have seen what i do when i take the tough votes which i will take. nobody else on the stage can say that. our real problem is the democrats who we have to stop and i will do that in november. >> all right candidates. thank you very much. we want to think our audience who joined us on air and online this evening. early voting in the special gop senate primary opens this wednesday and runs august 5 through august 7.

check your county polling locations. also, the special primary is on tuesday august 11. on election day, the polls will be open from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m.. we encourage every eligible voter to make a plan to cast your ballot and make sure that your voice is heard. on behalf of last great media, thanks for watching night. ♪

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